The LGBTQIA+ mental health app is helping people facing heightened pressure around alcohol and substances
BY NIC CROSARA, IMAGE BY PIXDELUXE VIA CANVA
Pride season can fill many LGBTQIA+ people with excitement. It can be a time for them to grab their Pride flags, glitter and let down their hair while connecting with the community. It’s also a time when there’s an increase in nightlife and events centred on alcohol and substances. If you have a difficult relationship with substances, this can be a very challenging time of year.
Thankfully, LGBTQIA+ mental health app, Voda, is once again rising to the occasion when it comes to offering the queer community support. Ahead of Pride, Voda launched its Sober Curiosity & Recovery hub, which supports LGBTQIA+ people navigating their relationship with alcohol and substances. The content is developed with LGBTQIA+ accredited psychotherapists and clinical psychologists.
Jaron Soh (he/him), Co-founder and CEO of Voda, commented: “Pride is a celebration, but it can also be one of the hardest seasons of the year for queer people navigating their relationship with alcohol and substance use. For many queer people, alcohol and substance use are often entangled with the spaces where queer life happens: whether that’s in a bar, club, or at a house party. This is why we designed this hub to meet people wherever they are and give them easy-to-learn, therapy-crafted tools to explore a new relationship with alcohol and substances.”
The hub offers self-guided practices across five categories: understanding the patterns beneath substance abuse, manageing urges and cravings, navigating social spaces while sober-curious, coping with comedowns and shaem and beginning again after a setback.
Chris Sheridan MBACP (Accred) FRSA (they/them), Lead Psychotherapist at Voda, commented: “For many queer people, substance use can become a way of coping with deeper experiences such as isolation, shame, loneliness, grief and trauma. These struggles are often shaped by the ongoing impact of stigma and minority stress. This is why we built this hub as a starting point for our community to access inclusive support whether they’re considering cutting back, navigating recovery, or simply trying to better understand themselves.”
Voda is an LGBTQIA+ mental health app designed by LGBTQIA+ psychotherapists to make mental well-being support more accessible and intersectional. The app offers LGBTQIA+ people evidence-based tools to move towards thriving and fulfilled lives, including self-led therapy practices and meditations on topics such as coming out, gender dysphoria, queer relationships, hate speech, and now sober curiosity and recovery. You can find Voda on the App Store and Google Play Store.
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